Why can't politicians stay faithful to their wives?

John Edwards admission today of an extramarital affair reminds me just how frequent this issue seems to come up. I am all together uncertain why infidelity is taken so lightly by the leadership of this country when it is often used as a touchstone for a politician's character. The parade of wives and husbands is always a political necessity in front of those adoring supporters, yet they seem to be cast aside all to easily.

So today, John Edwards admits to having a loveless affair with a filmmaker but denies that he is her newborn baby's father. Regardless of paternity the question is why the infidelity? And on an ailing wife.

Oddly this is a bi-partisan issue.

John McCain cheated on his wheel chair bound first wife Carol Shepp after returning from his time as a POW in the 1970's. It is during this time that he and Carol split ways, with marrying his current wife, Cindy Lou Hensley just one month after the divorce from Carol was final.

Of course having a wife that is ill is not a pre-requisite for political infidelity. We all remember the well publicized Monica Lewinsky affair with then sitting President Bill Clinton - apparently one of many affairs he had during his marriage to Hillary Clinton. Regardless of how many Bill Clinton's infedility comes with a double penalty. As a young man he was a member of DeMolay, a Masonic youth organization created in the early 1900's to keep kids off the streets and I suppose prep for future Masons. One of the basic tennets of DeMolay (of which I was also a member) is fidelity, with a great deal of focus on respecting women. I remember feeling a sense of sadness when I learned that one of the most successful members of DeMolay had cheated on his wife. After all, DeMolay was all too ready to mention Bill Clinton (and Walt Disney) when they were soliciting my membership.

And we all know the Kennedy story and there are others I'm sure. And we seem oddly okay with their cheating, as if it's part of the job description, but isn't their job entirely based on taking oaths? We have faith that their word is good, yet their word to their wives, that doesn't matter? And how they so vehemently deny it is, in this YouTube Age, laughable and usually a great mistake.

But it is not okay.

We seem to be convinced that it is just fine for a politician to lie, make false promises and cheat on their spouses. We never act all that surprised when we find out - and almost expect it of them. How is that a good thing? Why is it acceptable for our leadership to be untruthful? Shouldn't we hold them to a higher standard?

Now infedility does not mean they are bad at their day job, it just calls into question their honesty, which calls into question their qualifications for keeping their day job.

It is so utterly dissapointing.